Self Injury

Self injury and how to handle it.

What is Self Injury?

Self injury is behavior in which a rabbit causes injury to themselves, usually by biting or chewing and usually to the paws or toes. Sometimes, a rabbit can cause serious damage to the skin that requires treatment.

Why Self Injury and Your Disabled Rabbit?

Self injury is pretty rare, but not unheard of in rabbits. In normal, healthy rabbits, it is often a product of boredom or frustration with either hormones or living environment. Sometimes it can be caused by skin irritation, parasites, allergies or even stress. In disabled rabbits, the causes are often a bit different as there are typically injuries or other conditions involved. In our experience, self injury is most commonly caused by nerve pain. This can be due to compression of a nerve due to injury or damage to the nerve itself (which can happen, for example, when a rabbit severs their spine). The damage to or destruction of the nerves can sometimes cause pain or "flare ups" that cause a rabbit discomfort and they may react to that by biting at the area.

How Do You Treat Self Injury?

Self injury requires two courses of treatment: one to treat the damage and another to treat the cause.

Firstly, treat the damage caused by self injury. Injuries can range from mild to severe. You could be dealing with a small bite or a very mangled toe or tail. If your rabbit has caused some major damage by biting, it is important to seek veterinary treatment. They may need pain medication and/or antibiotics as well as external treatment to the wound. If the damage is minor, we have some healing tips on our Skin Injuries page that can help you.

As far as treating the cause of the nerve pain, we have had success with a medication called gabapentin. Gabapentin (also known as neurontin) treats neuropathic pain (the burning and tingling sensations that come from damaged nerves). We have used this in conjunction with metacam, to assist with pain. There are also some medications that you can use to "numb" the area, such as lidocaine (a local anesthetic). Lidocaine often comes in the form of a gel or ointment that you apply to the area being targeted.

Another thing that may be helpful for nerve pain is activity. Encouraging your rabbit to be active can sometimes help to wear out the nerves and reduce the likelihood of a flare up. This may not be appropriate for all rabbits, so be sure to ask your veterinarian first.

How Do You Prevent Self Injury?

Self injury behavior that is caused by a physical ailment can be hard to prevent as you can't often control what caused it. It may present randomly, be exacerbated by activity or stress, and sometimes comes and goes without warning. If your rabbit is injuring his or herself, it is important that you prevent injury to the targeted area/s as much as you can. Keep the area bandaged or wrapped. If they target their paws, try a baby sock to keep the foot covered. If they target their belly, get a small dog t-shirt for them to wear. Consult with your veterinarian, try the treatment methods described above and give it time. This situation will require a close eye and some creativity, but know that it is possible to get through it.

Bonnie's Experience With Self Injury

Bonnie had some trouble with self injury a few months after the spine injury that left her paralyzed in her hind legs. She targeted her tail. Because of the way she sits, her tail actually folds under her towards her tummy rather than sitting behind her. At first, she would just groom it a lot. Then she started nibbling at it. Eventually, she started biting it- hard. We kept a close eye on her and tried to distract her from biting as much as we could. We wrapped her tail to help it heal and hoped that the bandaging would take the brunt of any damage she did. It got to the point where she would lock onto her tail (or the area around it) and not let go, even falling to her side sometimes in the struggle. We knew something was wrong. Our co-founder has some experience with nerve pain in humans from an injury he sustained and we thought perhaps Bonnie had some form of nerve pain caused by her broken back that was flaring up and causing her to injure herself. We presented this idea and the possible use of gabapentin (which our cofounder used to treat his nerve pain) to our veterinarian. He agreed and gave us a prescription for gabapentin as well as metacam (for pain), baytril (an antibiotic) and lidocaine (to help numb her tail). It took some time and a lot of treating, but the flare ups began to subside and Bonnie's tail eventually healed.